Family's Family, No Matter Which Way You Spin It
by Lady Maria
Summary: X-Over w/ X-Men. Buffy's hiding secrets but the past always catches up with you, as she learns when she goes to Westchester. Can any one say, it's gonna bite her right in the butt?
1. Prologue

Prologue

L.A., 1989

"Don't leave me!!!!!!" the frightened six year shrieked. Her mother and her aunt looked at her sharply, each with a slightly different expression. Her mother, Alicia Summers, looked disgusted by this display of emotion. Alicia loved her sons dearly, but hated her only daughter.  

Elisabeth may have only been six, but she had long since shown an amazing I.Q. which extended to having realized that Alicia hated her and there was nothing she could do about it. However, when you were just dragged half-way across the country and separated from your two best friends who just so happen to be your older and twin brothers…well can you blame her?  

The look on Joyce Summers' face was different than that of her sister-in-law's.  Joyce felt disgust also, but it was towards this woman who was giving up the most remarkable gift that God could give a woman and all Alicia felt about it was disgust. Disgust towards her **daughter**.  Joyce had never had children and wouldn't ever have any other than this little one, so she couldn't understand the other Summers woman. Technically, she'd never understood Alicia but that had just been differences of opinion. This was a matter of what was morally right and what was wrong.

Beth was just plain old confused as her Auntie Joyce pulled her to her side and smiled.  It wasn't the hate-filled smirk that her mother always gave her but was filled with love instead.  

"You're my daughter, now," Joyce told her quietly. "And your new Daddy and I are going to make certain that you are the most loved little girl in California."  

As Joyce finished talking, Alicia glanced back at the small blonde and thought to herself, _I am **so** glad I'm finally rid of that brat. The boys are better children any day and they don't misbehave or are all around brats. Besides, I **won't **be a mother to a…a…**freak!  **No matter what Daddy says, that  is exactly what the Slayer is!_

Alicia didn't know it, that long-ago day, as she walked out of Beth's life, but her prejudices had just destroyed all hope of a relationship with any of her children.  The years would pass, and Beth would become Buffy, the adopted daughter of Hank and Joyce. Then, when she was fifteen, Buffy would step into the destiny her biological mother, daughter of Quentin Travers, hated—that of the Vampire Slayer. And her sons would never quite forgive her for taking their sister away. And it didn't help matters any that Alicia clung to her prejudice of people who weren't exactly like every else because her sons were as different as her daughter.  A single prejudice would leave scars that would tear the Summers family apart from the inside out…


	2. Hiding Secrets

Chapter 

Westchester, New York

2008

Twenty-five year old Buffy Summers-O'Brien looked at her husband with a sigh. It was just after dusk and she was getting exasperated. Scrap that, she'd passed that point several hours before. "Angel," she growled, "what is so wrong with us going to visit another magic shop?  Are you afraid of the competition?"

Her husband just sighed. "It's not the shop that bothers me. It's the **location** that's disturbing."  Angel O'Brien was probably the only person—ahem, vampire with a permanent soul—in Sunnydale, CA that actually watched the news. From the start of this Heaven forsaken trip, he'd been contemplating how to explain to his wife of seven years—five of which they'd spent together—that Westchester, New York wasn't only the home of Dragon's Magic Shoppe.  It was also the home of Xavier's Institute for the Gifted. In the end, the thing it came down to was that there were mutants in Westchester and Buffy, with her Slayer abilities, could quite possibly be mistaken for a mutant.   

"Tell me," Buffy said quietly, showing a maturity that was caused by having seen far too much.  "What's worrying you so much? The Mouth's closed…not permanently, of course, but Faith's patrolling while we're gone. The Magic Shoppe's doing amazingly well. You have a permanent soul and can't lose it. So what in Heaven's name could have you so wigged?" 

"There is a school for mutants here. I'm not worried about the mutants around here because Professor Xavier is all for peace, but I **am** concerned with the fact that you could be mistaken for a mutant."

"My Slayer-ness is similar to that of a mutant's ability?" Buffy asked skeptically. Now, on one hand it almost made sense, but on the other…She was a creature of legends, a supernatural being. Mutants, if she actually recalled what her bio teacher had taught, were something genetics had brought about.  Or maybe they were nature freaks of the woods…she **really suspected that that lesson had been taught during her airhead period.  After all, ****what the hell was a nature freak of the woods?!**

As they approached the small store where Buffy was hoping to find a certain type of herb (hufflewort, which causes female supernatural creatures to become pregnant if they can't or if it's technically impossible.), he could see her visibly tense. Seeing the questions that he was barely suppressing written in the eyes she'd once called 'cryptic,' Buffy sighed.  "It's just a feeling that I have.  It's almost like the mutants pose a danger to everything I've ever hidden. Before you ask, it's not just me being the Slayer.  I won't explain the other things that I've hidden, but it was all a long time ago. It's far in the past."

Angel only stared at his wife, not understanding why she couldn't open up to him. After all, they'd known each other for a decade and spent over three-fourths of that as man and wife. _What could be so __upsetting to you that you want to forget it, Buffy? Will you ever tell me? Or is it something like **my** past…something we will always tiptoe around? If only you knew that I'd give anything to protect you from your secret. If only you understood just how deep my love for you runs._


	3. Since I've Seen You Last

**_A/N: Alright, so I said I wasn't allowed 2 update this, and I'm not. I'm just…_* winces* **_…breaking the rules._** ****_Anyways, this fic is told from several different characters points of view and I'm almost positive that it absolutely sucks, but oh well. I can improve on the next chapter. Review please. And if it's a flame please make it constructive. Also, this IS AU. Please remember as you read this. Also, the song is Since I've Seen You Last by Joanna Janet. It doesn't belong to me any more than X-men or Buffy._**

**_P.S.: I just spent two hours trying to find Buffy's birthday, and still couldn't find it, so just for you die hard fans who will yell at me----I'm saying "SCREW THIS!!!" and creating my own birthday for her.  Also, I'm trying not to paint her the way they do in the show—incredibly shallow. Oh, and Hank Summers isn't a jackass and Joyce didn't throw Buffy out at the end of season 2. AND they're still married._**

**Xavier's School for the Gifted**

**2008**

_Sister's getting married_

_Plans to move out west,_

_I know the last time you saw her_

_She wasn't even driving yet._

Alex Summers watched his brother pace, knowing that the only reason Scott hadn't set a date with Jean was that he wanted his twin there for the wedding. But Alex also knew that the possibility of seeing Beth in this lifetime was next to none. "It's been nineteen years, Scott.  I really don't think you're going to see her again. Just set the date already!"

His younger brother stared at him, shoving the expression of pain from his hidden eyes.  "I know that, Alex. It's just…it still hurts sometimes. And so often, I wonder what she's doing or if she's alive.  But I'll set the date. You're right," Scott's stony façade collapsed and he whispered, "She's never coming back."

_Daddy finally cashed out_

_Hs working days have passed_

_Bought a condo on the coast_

_And him and Mama ain't been back_

_Since I've seen you last._

Alex knew how hard it hurt his brother to get on with the wedding.  Scott didn't know it, but he'd often struggled with the same thoughts and feelings.  Every birthday that had come, he'd shut himself off from his adoptive parents.  October 31st was the day that other kids went trick-or-treating but Alex hadn't done that since he was 8 ¼ and it was what would have been Beth's 7th birthday. 

It had gotten worse when their mother and father had died and they'd been split up by Social Services.  Then, Halloween was a time to remember both of his younger siblings. He let himself dwell just briefly on the fact that he'd been reunited with Scott so there was no reason why that couldn't happen with Beth but he also knew it would take a miracle. Beth most likely hated them for what she'd most likely seen as abandoning her.  

_I finally finished college _

_Spent a summer in __New York___

_Thirstin' for knowledge _

_That I flat out can't afford._

Willow Osborne just lay there in bed with her husband and knew a moment of complete bliss.  She couldn't help but feel relieved that Amy was manning the store with Anya so that meant… "Oz! I don't have to work today.  How about working on the first of little witchy-wolves?"

**(And I'm NOT writing a sex scene.)**

_I met someone who listened _

_Held me close _

_And made me laugh_

_And if only for a moment _

_I haven't felt like that _

_Since I've seen you last._

Buffy couldn't help but wonder what her husband would say if she told him that her grandfather was the one person she hated. In fact, other than her biological mother, Quentin Travers was the only person she hated. The only person she'd told about her brothers was Willow, and that was only because Wills had seen a picture of her, Scott, and Alex. That had been seven years before, during the time that Angelus had terrorized them, but Willow hadn't told a soul in the years since. 

Perhaps, Buffy reflected wryly, that was because she'd threatened to tell the entire Rosenberg clan that not only was their pride-and-joy resident genius a practicing Wiccan that had gotten married in a Christian ceremony, but her husband was a werewolf.  The werewolf threat had come first, with the Wiccan one appearing a few years later. The last one had surfaced two years before when Willow and Oz had eloped. All in all, they never discussed that long-ago conversation, except for a, "Today's Alex's birthday," or "I wonder what my twin turned out like. I wonder if Scott would hate me for what I am. I wonder if he'd think I'm a freak."

Elisabeth 'Buffy' Anne Summers Summers-O'Brien didn't reflect on her early years often, and was surprised that she even was dwelling on the past, and on the things she'd shared with her best friend.  It wasn't one of their birthdays, wasn't the day she'd been given up, and wasn't her formal adoption day. So why was she thinking of her siblings?

_Since I've seen you last_

_I been chasin' down_

_Dreams that I outgrew_

_But with every turn _

_Life leads me back to you_

_Though you've been gone for so long_

_Not a moment has passed_

_Since I've seen you last._

Angle watched his wife stare out the window of their hotel room, a forlorn expression on her face. He'd been wondering at her words all night and was still wondering. They'd met when Buffy was fifteen—exactly a decade ago. Three years later after being acquaintances, then friends, then casually dating, then seriously dating, they decided to take the big step on her eighteenth birthday.  He'd married her in the old Irish custom beforehand, complete with a Claddaugh ring fir each if them.    They had consummated the marriage only to find out there had been a clause on his soul: a moment of pure happiness would unbind his soul and cause Angelus to come out to play. His demon's reign of terror had ended only when his wife had plunged a sword into him and sent her one true love to Hell. 

Ironically, it was that love that had been able to bring Angel back from the pits of Hell.  Too bad it had also prevented them from ever making love again.

_Since I've seen you last. _

_Oh yeah. _

_With every new day,_

_Something brings back our goodbye_

_And the reasons we had then _

_So further from my mind_

_I prayed for this evening _

_And the chance to finally ask _

_Do you ever wish we held on _

_To all we almost had?_

_Since I've seen you last._

They had decided to separate for awhile, Buffy recalled. Just a month into it, she'd showed up in L.A. missing him with a passion and pleading with him to come back.  Angel had shaken his head, and told her that he'd only come back if they could make his soul permanent.

So, she and Willow had done everything **but** hack into the Vatican searching for a spell that would do just that.  A year after he came back, they had preformed the spell.  Shortly afterwards, they'd married in a modern church because they didn't feel like explaining to her parents that they were actually already married. 

Hank Summers, the man Buffy had called "Dad" since she was seven years old, walked his little girl down the aisle.  Granted, he wasn't happy about having a son-in-law that was undead and older than **his grandmother, but he dealt. Not happily, but Joyce had only had to remind her husband that he should be glad that he had a daughter to worry about to get him to come around.**

Buffy had told them that she didn't want to explain to him about all of it, and they'd honored his request.  If he thought it odd that there were very few pictures of his wife before age six, he never mention it. 

Elisabeth thanked God every day for her husband.  Only He could have given her such a loving husband.

_Since I've seen you last_

_Cuz I'm through chasin' down _

_Dreams that I outgrew_

_Cuz with every turn _

_Life leads me back to you_

_Though you been gone for so long_

_Not a moment has past _

_Since I've seen you last._

Buffy couldn't help but hope that she'd see the boys…they'd be men now…that haunted her dreams again.  She knew that it would be hard to find them unless she employed her hacker-best friend, but she would ask Wills about it when they got back to Sunnyhell.  But right now, she had other things to worry about…like creating the first generation of Summers-O'Briens. 

_Oh yeah. _

_Since I've seen you last._

_Oh, since I've seen you last._

_Since I've seen you last._

None of them knew it yet but God had decided that it was time for a family to be reunited and another man's past to be revealed to him.  Who knew, maybe there'd even be a couple new romances…


	4. Meetings in the Middle of the Night

**A/N: Erik didn't meet Xavier while being freed from Auschwitz and he is over twenty years older than the professor. Also, I tweaked Erik's last name. Words inside of :: mean words spoken in another language, italicized words are thoughts or telepathic communications and words in quotation marks are normal conversations.**

They were on their way to the airport and not a thing had happened.  Buffy hadn't had to dust a single vamp, and Angel's dire predictions hadn't come true. All in all, it had been the least eventful vacation they'd ever taken, Angel reflected. Of course, there is a saying about not counting your chicks before they're hatched…

No sooner had Angel thought that this was the least eventful vacation, than the car sputtered.  Sputtered, stopped, and wouldn't turn back over to be exact. Buffy cursed in Gaelic, American English, and British English about nothing ever going right on vacation, before moving onto "those damn Powers That Be!" and how she wanted to know why God was so dead-set against an uneventful vacation. 

For his part, her husband had similar musings.  Unfortunately, Angel looked around once he got out of the car to see if there were any houses around.  There was one house, and under normal circumstances, he'd have been thrilled. However, Buffy was with him on this trip and he'd sworn to himself that he was not letting Xavier meet her. 

Angel had met the professor back before Charles had even met Erik Lehrer and they'd kept in contact over the past thirty years.  He'd told his friend about the wedding but Charles had been too busy fighting his old mentor, Magneto, to attend.  Privately, Angel had breathed a sigh of relief about this—he hadn't filled Charles in on Buffy's destiny. 

Now, unfortunately, that little bit of omission seemed destined to come back to bit him in the ass.  Angel O'Brien gulped at the sight of Xavier's Institute for the Gifted. _Charles, it's Angel._

_Angel. It has been a long time. Charles Xavier was genuinely pleased to hear from the souled vampire again as it had been over four years since they'd last communicated.  __May I ask where you are?_

_I'm outside of your mansion actually.  My wife and I were passing through and our car broke down._

_By all means, come in, old friend.  My mansion is always open to you, he sent as the invitation._

"Alright," Angel told his wife. "Charles is expecting us."

"But you didn't call him or anything," she pointed out logically.

"He's telepathic.  And besides, this is his school."

As they walked up the drive into the mansion, Buffy just nodded with a look of, **Why does this always happen to us? **

Inside the mansion, Logan and Alex Summers watched the professor. "Well, who is it outside and how do you know them?" Alex asked irritably. He did not appreciate getting up so in the middle of the night just because Xavier wanted him to. And besides, he hadn't seen his lover in quite a while due to his brother's wedding.  Just when they actually had a chance to have some fun, Xavier calls them to come meet some guests. 

"One of them is a very old friend.  The other guest is his wife.  Angel is one of the strangest people I have ever met, but he is still quite nice."

"Someone named their kid Angel?!" Logan asked incredulously. 

"Something like that," someone new said with a laugh. The guy speaking was tall dark and…well, handsome.

Xavier on the other hand, noticed the petite blonde next to Angel first. "Buffy O'Brien, I presume?"

"That would be me," Buffy said with a nod. "Who're your friends who look like you either woke them up or interrupted their sex time?"

"Buffy!" Angel exclaimed.  "What have we told both you and Anya about that habit of yours?"

"Ummm…" she mused for a moment. "Don't speak your mind if it could possibly insult or offend someone?"

"Precisely. Now could you use this lesson in real life?"

"I suppose," she muttered. 

Logan and Alex couldn't help but snicker.

"I'm Logan," Wolverine introduced, "and this is my—"

"Boyfriend?" the blonde asked helpfully.

"Boyfriend," Logan agreed, "Alexander Summers."

"Buffy," Angel asked, "do you have anything you might want to share?"

"That would be no?" the pale young woman asked with a small, nervous smile.

"That would be a 'you're avoiding the subject,'" her husband corrected.

"I'll only tell if Alex can figure out who I am within three minutes."  At her husband's look, she asked, "What? F makes an ultimatum and you don't think a thing of it, but if I make one, you look at me like I'm crazy? Is this supposed to be fair?"

"I've known you at one point in my life, correct?" Alex asked the blonde cautiously.

"Yes," she answered.

"Have I known you as Buffy O'Brien?"

"No. One and half more minutes."

Alex thought for a moment and finally asked, "Did my brother know you as well?"

"Yes, Scott did."

"When's your birthday?"

"I'm not telling, cuz you happen to know it already."

"Beth!" Alex breathed.

"Wondered how long it'd take you," Buffy remarked with a crooked grin. "But it still took you three minutes and three seconds. That means I don't have to tell you, Angel."

"Elisabeth Anne Summers Summers-O'Brien!" At her stunned look, he let an ironic smile grace his lips. "I saw your birth certificate, and I asked your mother about it later. All she'd say was that she really hated her sister-in-law. I never got anything more out of her."

"My mother hated me, you know. Not my mom, she was the first adult that really loved me. But my birth mother," the blonde slayer choked back a sigh, "Alicia did not like me.  I was different, and she knew it.  She had been trained as a Watcher by her father, who had been a Watcher as had all of his family."

"Why would they need a Watcher, whatever that is, to keep an eye on a mutant?" her brother asked her.

"I'm not a mutant," the puzzled slayer said slowly. "Why would you think that?"

"Because being a mutant runs in families and both Scott and I are mutants. Besides, how could you be different and not be a mutant?"

"I have a better question," Angel interrupted.  "Do I know your grandfather?"

"I believe you've had the unfortunate experience of meeting Quentin."

"You're **grandfather is the man who practically ordered your execution when he found out that you had married me?!"**

"That would be the one."

"Hello!" Alex called, "Want to fill us in on all of this?"

"Sure," she said. "Well, it all began in L.A. when I was fifteen.  A man named Merrick told me that I had a destiny—to fight demons and other evils.  That led to torching my high school gym, which led to us moving, and I ended up meeting the love of my life. The only problem was that Sunnydale High was on a Hellmouth…" And so she told her story, from that fateful day when she was fifteen to the day she met the Scoobies, to her own wedding day—the first one and the time between the second one—to the events that had led to them to Westchester.

A/N: Well, what ya think? Good, bad, or mediocre? Review, please!


	5. Has anyone told you that you're strange?

Scott hated waking up. He hated being reminded of yet another day without Beth.  His mind had been unusually hung up on his twin for the past two days which was causing him to be depressed. 

"Hi, honey," Jean said as she rolled over next to her fiancé.  "How'd you sleep?"

"Fine," Scott said with a smile.  He knew that she had been overjoyed the day before when he had asked if they could get married in three days. She'd been planning for so long that all she had to do was get dressed and call the wedding guests.  "Want to go down to breakfast?"

"Do we have to?" 

"We should at least put in an appearance."

********************************

Downstairs, Buffy was extremely anxious herself.  Angel had gone to go talk to the professor some place where he wouldn't become a cremated ex-vampire.  Now, she was simply waiting with Alex.  She was also trying to convince herself that Logan did not smell familiar.  If she didn't know better, she'd say he smelled like…_don't go there Buffy!_ she told herself sharply.  

"Ms. O'Brien," the professor called. "May I ask to talk to you?"

"You can ask but I don't have to say yes," she replied.

"It's just…after I left you and Angel with Logan and Alex last night…I tried to telepathically listen in on the conversation.  Would you know why I couldn't?"

"I'm not a mutant," the blonde pointed out. "So why are you asking me if I shielded us?"

"Because if you knew absolutely nothing about mutants as you claim, then you wouldn't know that word."

He had her there.  But she was her mother's daughter, and she knew that Joyce didn't want the whole world to know that **because she was an empath she'd taught her daughter how to shield.**

Luckily, Alex interfered. "Professor, she's not a mutant.  Perhaps someone taught her how to shield long ago. If one grows up in the right type of home, it isn't that hard."

 "I suppose not," Xavier conceded.

As the professor went back to his meeting, Alex stared at his little sister in amusement.  "I swear that you are a never ending puzzle, Elisabeth."

"My mom's an empath," she explained with a smile. "She taught me how to shield before I learned my times tables." 

Logan who had simply been watching the two interact shook his head.  "Has anyone told ya that you are strange?"

"I grew up on a Hellmouth and married a vampire," Buffy smirked.  "Why wouldn't I be strange?  Of course, that's without even taking into account that most of my kind don't live to see eighteen and I'm twenty-five."

She hadn't told them that part the night before.  It threw her big brother for a loop, to know that her kind died so young.  Alex watched her and wondered what they would have done if she had died when the rest her kind seemed to. Alex couldn't imagine it, couldn't imagine not having her back in his life. "Glad you're not dead," he said gruffly.

"Well," she said, "I wasn't kidding last night when I said that I died.  It just happened that one of my best friends brought me back.  I was fifteen."

Before either of them could respond, Scott and Jean walked into the dining room.  Even though it had been close to twenty years, and they were two totally different people, the recognition was instantaneous.  Buffy gave a squeal that sounded remarkably like, "SCOTTY!!!!!" and Scott looked like he was going to pass out from shock.

Everyone but Alex and Logan stared at the blonde girl who had just launched herself at their normally unflappable leader.  Logan was laughing his head off, and Alex wore a small, sly smile.  Jean looked like she wanted to kill the younger-looking woman.  In Jean's mind, this familiarity could have only come from being intimate, which made the other female her enemy. 

Alex looked over at the seething telepath, and commented gently, "If they'd ever liked each other in a way that you would be jealous of, it would have been incest.  And while they're close, it's a type of closeness that's caused by being twins."

However, for some odd reason, Alex's voice carried.  Which wouldn't have been a bad thing but it carried during one of those odd lulls in conversation.  The twins turned to their older brother with identical glares, which to everyone **else in the room was down right scary.  Because he could remember when they'd wet the bed, Alex just smiled.**

"ALLLLEEEEEEEEXXXXXXXXXXX!!!!!!!!!!!" Buffy screamed. "I don't mind the red-head knowing but did you have to tell the whole bloody school?"

"Bloody?" Alex questioned.

His sister shrugged. "Guess I've been hanging around Spike too long."

"Ya really are strange, Buffy," Logan commented.  "You know a guy named Spike?"

"At least I'm not a damphir who's masquerading as a mutant."  It slipped out before she realized what she'd said.  Buffy covered her mouth wishing with all her heart that she could take it back but it was too late.  What surprised her was that instead of looking pissed, Logan just looked confused.

"What the hell is a damphir?" he asked.

Now it was Buffy's turn to stare; she'd never thought that he might honestly not know.

**A/N: I know, I know.  I've been a very bad girl and not updated.  Tell me what you think of it and then see if you like any of my other fics.  Might be while before this gets updated again but I'll try.  I just have all these stories appearing in my brain. I really don't like it!**


	6. Can we get back to the subject?

**A/N: I know that the definition of a damphir seems to vary from story to story, but in this story a damphir is the child of two vampires.  Also, someone pointed out that Alex is younger than Scott. I am aware of this fact, but I just have issues with sticking to storylines.  Besides, since I started a similar story at the same time as this one, I try to make them as different as possible.**

**Also, in my world lamia are…well they're explained in this chapter.  Just please recall that I may make small mistakes that I didn't intend to make, but I don't like playing by the storyline.  Please don't sue me.**

Buffy's jaw dropped. "You don't know what you are?"

Logan growled at his lover's younger sister.  "The only things I know about me are things from the past ten years, blondie."

"Huh?" Buffy asked with a confused expression.  

Alex decided that he'd have to intervene in this potentially dangerous situation.  "Logan doesn't have any memories beyond ten years ago because some sort of government agency operated on him.  They outlined his skeleton with adamantium and gave him retractable claws."

"Shit," the blonde swore.  "Bloody-fucking-wonderful!" 

Xavier, who had come into the dining room around the time Buffy had called Logan a damphir, had to chide her. "Ms. Summers-O'Brien, this is a school and those are impressionable young children. Please refrain from using profanity."

Buffy ignored the professor. "Would you happen to know where my husband is? It's rather important that I speak to him."

"Right here, Buff," Angel said.  He was staying out of the sunlight and sticking to the shadows.  Suddenly his brow furrowed in concentration. "Why does the damphir feel so familiar?"  Like his wife, he'd noticed what Logan was the night before but had put it on hold due to the reunion that had happened.

"Once again," Logan growled, "what the hell is a damphir?"

Scott, however, had a more pressing question. "Beth, when in the hell did you get married?"

His twin just smiled. "I eloped the day I turned eighteen. Then we got married again in a traditional ceremony about eighteen months later."

"I don't even want to know," Scott said with a sigh, "so why don't you explain to Logan what a demy-whatever is."

Angel couldn't help it by that time and broke out in fits of laughter. "The mispronunciation of important names seems to run in the family," he gasped out.

His wife gave him such a glare that if looks could kill, he wouldn't have even been a pile of ash.  "It isn't my twin's fault if he couldn't pronounce damphir right.  I certainly couldn't if it weren't for the fact that we're raising Dru and Spike's kids."

"And I still can't figure out what possessed us to do that," her husband answered.

"We didn't want Dru to feed on them, remember?"

"Oh, yeah, right."

"Hello, we don't know who Dru and Spike are, so why don't we get back to the topic?" Logan asked impatiently.  For some reason, his nerves had been jangling around Angel.  It was almost like he was supposed to know who he was. 

Buffy had the grace to flush. "Sorry, we get off the subject quite frequently.  Now, do you know anything about the people who outlined your skeleton?"

Professor Xavier flinched as he told his students to leave the dining room and have free time.  He didn't want the young mutants to have to be exposed to anymore than they really had to be.  Mutants were no longer shunned as they once had been, but they were still feared.  Even being considered equal citizens didn't prevent the hatred, so they tried to protect the students. 

Buffy observed the proceedings with a critical eye.  "You should have let them stay.  Teenagers have ways have finding things out anyways."

"I wanted to protect them," Xavier stated quietly. 

"They aren't as innocent as you'd like to believe," Angel contributed.  "If they're anything like Buffy was as a teen, they're a lot more jaded then they appear."

"Now I'm the one asking if we can get back to the subject," Buffy sighed.

 "Alright, hon," Angel said with a smirk, "why did you want to speak to me?"

"A government agency operated on Logan," Buffy started.

"Blondie, are you trying to live up to the stereotypes about blondes? We already know that a government agency operated on me," Logan growled.

"Don't interrupt me," Buffy responded, "and maybe you wouldn't think that I'm acting like a blonde.  Anyhow, a government agency operated on Logan. Angel, what happened my freshman year?"

"The Initiative implanted a chip into Clem's head," he responded. "They didn't care that he was a harmless and kind demon.  They felt that they should still place the behavior modifier into his head.  When we raided the compound, over 75 different types of demons, half demons, and demon hybrids were found inside.  All of them had been experimented on.  And of course, there was Professor Walsh's pet project."

"Exactly," she said with a decisive nod. "Could what happened to Logan be an earlier experiment?"

"But damphirs are harmless, for the most part. They can act like and appear to be normal humans other than the fact that as long as someone of their bloodline is around, they will never appear to age over twenty-five…much like two slayers that I could name.  But getting back to the subject, why would anyone have wanted to experiment on a damphir?"

"Two things could have happened," his wife answered. "Logan could have been mistaken for a mutant, like he was by Professor Xavier, or…"

"Or what?" Scott asked impatiently.

"Or they could have purposely experimented on him because he was a damphir," Buffy finished, her heart heavy.  The Initiative had cost over thirty different demons their lives.  Most of the demons that had died had been harmless…like Clem.  The chip hadn't acted like it was supposed to and had ended up not allowing blood to his brain.  He had died of an aneurysm not three days after the Scoobies had fought Adam.  

Logan growled. "We have now realized that while you had a good reason for repeating what I told you, you are still acting like a blonde!  What the hell is a damphir?!"

"Oops.  A damphir is the child, the human child, of two vampires.  Like lamias, which are the children of a vampire and another supernatural creature, damphirs are not quite mortal.  Lamias have average lifespans of about a century, although the actual length of the lifespan can vary depending on which creature the vampire mated with.  Damphirs, on the other hand, can, like Angel mentioned, live without aging until there is no one left of their parents' bloodlines. When there is no one left, they will resume natural aging and eventually die from old age.  A stake through the heart will kill both lamias and damphirs as can beheading.  Other than that, what is a fatal wound to others will heal itself in lamia and damphir although it will take longer in the lamia. Lamias have varied supernatural abilities, but damphirs always have the same or extremely similar abilities. Damphirs have increased speed, strength, taste, smell, sight, and hearing. As I mentioned before, they heal from almost everything.  There are some who even compare damphirs to slayers because their abilities are so similar," Buffy concluded.

Her oldest brother shook his head. "Did you breathe at all during your ten minute lecture?"

His sister thought for about three seconds and then started to chuckle. "I don't think I did, Alex. Wills will be laughing so hard when she finds out that I babbled."

Both her brothers stared at her, trying to reconcile this woman who spoke of demons in one breath, gave a ten minute lecture with the next, and then laughed about babbling, with the extremely shy young girl that they'd once known.

All Scott could think to say was, "Who's Wills?"

Buffy laughed again; she'd forgotten that Scott didn't know anything about how she'd spent the past twenty years.  "Willow is my best friend and is, and always has been, the queen of babble-on.  She's also the greatest friend a girl could hope for.  She's going to be really happy that I found you two."

Angel stared in open disbelief. "You mean to say that Willow has known all along about you having siblings and I just found out yesterday?"

"Yeah, well," she shrugged, "when she found out, you weren't exactly yourself."

It didn't even take a full minute for the implications to sink in. "Oh."

"Anyways, now that you know what you are, Logan, we need to figure out whether you are a mutant on top of that or if damphirs and lamias show up as mutants on Cerebro. If so, Professor, that will have to be fixed.  Willow will most likely be able to fix it, so I'll need to call her. Another thing that needs to be done is finding out which bloodline you belong to, Logan." Buffy stopped to take a small breath before continuing. "Some damphir have gamefaces but my guess is you don't have one which means we'll need to use a spell or hypnosis to figure it out."

"Excuse me, young lady," the Professor stated, "but his mind is a puzzle.  Hypnosis wouldn't work."

"Don't tell me what a Slayer can or can't work.  Trust me; hypnosis will actually be the route we want to go, due to the fact that a spell will only show what bloodlines you're from.  Hypnosis will reveal your parents, Logan."

Everyone could only stare at the petite, blonde dynamo.  Jean was the first to stop staring.  "Great, we **needed another Fearless Leader," she groaned. "I mean, I love you, honey, but two of you?  Give me a break." **

Alex had to agree with her, and Angel gave a small grin.  Everyone else was cracking up, while the twins glared. 

**A/N: Well, I'll be. I updated this story first.  Tell me which of my stories you'd like to see updated first, and as always, thanks go to everyone who has reviewed.  Please continue reviewing.  My self esteem thanks you for giving it life and my coach thanks you because I now have self esteem. I'm not kidding.  Oh, and someone told me that I should try and expand on things.  Please tell me that three pages is enough expansion!  Again, thanks for reading this.**


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